Posted by Placenta Jones at dpsnet.detpub.k12.mi.us on October 20, 1999 at 15:38:58:
Friend of mine e-mailed this to me. Basically, The Catholic League has decided to collect every negative quote about Dogma they could find to show that columnists, reviewers, and even other actors find the movie offensive.
The thing is...although some of the quotes are clearly from people who hate the flick, the other quotes range from excerpts from Ben Affleck interviews to not-negative comments at all (like "Dogma is a black comedy about Catholicism" What???)
So, here's the League's bizarre quote collection. Read on and enjoy:
Offensive Nature of "Dogma" Acknowledged
Playboy on "Dogma": If members of the Catholic League don’t picket this one, they’re comatose." (Playboy, 12/1/98)
John Pierson, Independent Film Channel host, said, "The Catholic League probably will have a problem." (New York Post, 4/5/99). He also said, "There will be a really intense storm."
Disney on "Dogma": A top company executive for Disney said he was dismayed by the movie and labeled it "inappropriate for all of our labels." (New York Times, 4/8/99, Bernard Weinraub)
Miramax on Disney: Harvey Weinstein, when asked about Disney’s reaction (he was at Cannes at the time), said that although no one directly asked him to shelve it, "what they said is: we have a problem."
(The Independent, 5/21/99).
Ben Affleck on the movie: Affleck says the most controversial part of the film is the contention "that Mary and Joseph had sex and that they had a kid, and therefore there is a (relative) of Christ on Earth who is a girl, and she works at an abortion clinic." He then admits that "The movie is definitely meant to push buttons." (Chicago Sun-Times, 6/25/98, Cindy Pearlman)
Affleck lets go again: "It’s a satire on the Catholic Church. It’s Kevin’s take on the perils of dogmatic beliefs and being inflexible." (Cincinnati Enquirer, July 3, 1998).
Affleck calls it like it is: "It’s a rumination on faith and dick jokes." (Entertainment Weekly Online, 6/14/99, Angel Ayes)
Critic calls it a diatribe against Catholicism: "It’s essentially a jokey diatribe against Catholic and Christian mythology that will almost certainly cause a stir when it hits theaters." (Jeffrey Wells, Boston Herald,
7/6/98)
Wells admits "it does lampoon the canons of Catholicism." (Jeffrey Wells, Mr. Showbiz, 6/25/98)
Celebrity page of New York Post: "Miramax may have to dump promising young filmmaker Kevin Smith over his latest movie, which satirizes the Catholic Church and Catholic faith in a manner certain to offend the faithful." (New York Post, Page Six, 4/5/99)
Reviewer says that the movie "has the look of rattling Roman Catholic sensibilities like no movie since 1988’s Last Temptation of Christ. What’s to be upset about? How about a trash-talking 13th Apostle? A female descendant of Jesus who runs an abortion clinic? The assertion that Joseph and Mary had sex? A Diety obsessed with skee-ball?" (Philadelphia Inquirer, W. Speers, 4/6/99)
"A black comedy about Catholicism." (Hollywood Reporter, Dana Harris and Cathy Dunkley, 4/13/99)
"Smith’s screenplay contains any number of scenes likely to vex the faithful: There’s a trash-talking apostle, a demon made of excrement, a riff on Joseph and Mary’s sex life, and a Skeeball-obsessed God. In an attempt to make the Catholic denomination friendlier, the church in Dogma launches a ‘Catholicism—Wow!’ campaign, featuring a smiling ‘Buddy Christ’ who no longer hangs from the cross but instead offers a thumbs-up salute." (Premiere, John Horn, May 1999)
"The film combines Smith’s beloved dick jokes with the Old Testament." (Playboy, 12/1/98)
A reporter for Entertainment Weekly: "The lead character, who goes on to save the world, the kind of neo-Mary, works at an abortion clinic. These are tough things to give an audience and not have some kind of reaction." (Rebecca Asher Walsh, "Fox Report" with Paula Zahn, Fox News Channel, 6/23/99)
Reporter Mary DeTurris captures the film’s essence: "Amid a bizarre tale where more characters are angels and demons disguised as humans than actual human beings, there is a constant barrage of Catholic jokes and bathroom humor that brings to mind the work of a couple of fifth-grade boys with too much free time.
"The plot is at times so convoluted that it should come with Cliff Notes. Viewers go back and forth between the avenging angels, Loki and Bartelby, and Bethany and her band of idiots–which includes Rufus, the gutter-mouthed ‘13th apostle’ whom the script says was removed from the Bible because of his campaign to recognize that Jesus was black.
"It would be impossible to list all of the scenes that would offend Catholics, as writer-director Kevin Smith has managed to lay a twisted view of Catholicism over just about every aspect of this film. One of the more offensive scenes, however, is when the muse Serendipity, who has given up her place in heaven to work as a stripper on earth, compares the Mass to bad sex and then says that Catholics ‘don’t celebrate your faith, you mourn it.’
"Smith, who has been reported as saying he is a practicing Catholic and views his film as ‘pro-faith,’ also has a Catholic cardinal declare that the Church is going to replace the crucifix with a smiling, winking Jesusgiving two thumbs up."(Our Sunday Visitor, Mary DeTurris, 7/11/99)
"The filmmaker clearly selected the subject to shock, offend, titillate and generate publicity."(National Catholic Register, quote by Rob Long of Cheers!, 7/11-17/99)